Clement Crisp names Steven McRae of the Royal Ballet as an 'Arts Face to Watch in 2007'. Better late than never I suppose though most of us spotted this particular dancers talent some time ago. Heres the article:

I saw Steven McRae about five years ago when he won the Lausanne Dance Competition. He had to perform a classical, a modern and a 'free choice' selection. For his 'free choice' he did a tap dance number, the only one I've ever seen at this competition. It was quite a crowd pleaser. He stood out in all his performances and was very colorful. I wish him well.

The prodigiously talented Steven McRae is replacing injured Johan Kobborg in Romeo & Juliet next Tuesday (16th). That's the good news, the bad news is that there are only 6 tickets remaining in the stalls and a handful of appalling slips in the amphi available.

McRae's Romeo debut is reviewed in today's times together with a cropped version of the picture in the actual paper (Times 2). It's a glowing review of the most exceptional young male dancer in the UK. I saw him dance with Cojocaru at a gala a year or so ago and they made a perfect couple, hopefully they will continue to dance together - often.

What I find disturbing nonetheless - particularly in someone so young, as he's but 20 or 21 - is the relentless and quite unguarded quality of personal ambition that emerges both from his interviews, and from what has struck me, so far at least, as an inescapably thrusting stage persona.

If I'm not mistook, it was as early as six months ago that he had begun to warn, publicly, that he would leave Covent Garden, if he didn't get what he wants, PRONTO.

One gets the feeling that the lad already sees himself as Director of Covent Garden fifteen years' hence, which, coming from someone who has barely begun to tread the boards, is, I would venture to suggest, a little premature.

In that age group, Ludovic Ondiviela is no fool, and neither is Zachary Faruque, despite certain technical shortcomings.

There may be a culture-clash here, Cassandra.

McRae is young and very susceptible to various sorts of influence. And the major influence in England since 1979, has been Thatcherism - ME ME ME FIRST, and sod the rest.

Remember the day that both Darcey Bussel and Belinda Hatley retired - the latter being a far better dancer, actually? Case in point.

When artistic emotion, and emotion about one's own personal career, become confused, the latter will tend, over a rather short period of time, to quell the wellspring of the former. We saw that with Nureyev, whose creativity, as a dancer, had more or less dried up by his late twenties.

This is NOT a prediction in relation to Mr. McRae's future. It's a warning.

Where I work, reading the Financial Times is de rigueur and at weekends the paper comes with an extraordinary glossy magazine entitled ‘How to Spend It’, a publication that is clearly aimed at those with seven figure incomes and therefore usually ignored by myself and the other members of staff. This weekend however it purported to be an ‘arts issue’ so I took a look inside and found a lovely piece about Steven Mcrae in his native Australia describing how he spends his free time with his family.

Unfortunately I can’t find a link for it, only some fashion pictures with dancers from the same edition. Perhaps someone better at web searching than me could come up with the correct link? It really is a very nice article.

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